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P. Christopher Earley, Krannert's new dean and the James Brooke Henderson Professor of Management.

Meet the Dean

P. Christopher Earley takes the helm at Krannert

Spring 2012Interview by Tim Newton Photos by Mark Simons

P. Christopher Earley began his tenure as dean of the Krannert School on November 1, 2011. Earley, the James Brooke Henderson Professor of Management, formerly served as dean at the University of Connecticut School of Business and at the National University of Singapore. Prior to that, he was a faculty member at London Business School, Nanyang Business School and Indiana University. Krannert Magazine sat down with the dean to get his impressions of his first few months on the job.

Krannert Magazine: When you thought of Purdue during your academic career, what came to mind?

Chris Earley: I think, like a lot of people, of engineering, science and technology. But I also think of a university that was a forerunner of many other schools reaching outside the United States and creating a global footprint and having a global impact, not just in terms of quality of research but also impact on global community. For me that is what the notion of Purdue is.

KM: Why is it important for the Krannert School to be closely linked with Purdue?

CE: First and foremost, Purdue University is globally recognized as a brand and with an impact in a way that a business school can’t be. There are very few business schools in the world that have a global name recognition –– a handful, like a Wharton or a Kellogg. But really what the rest of the world looks at for global education is the quality and impact of the entire university. That’s why we’re tightly integrating ourselves. We want to remind people that this is a world-class business school because we’re part of a world-class university.

That’s the first piece. The other piece is that it creates distinctiveness because what we are known for is science, engineering and technology. Therefore, the business school needs to leverage that in a way that a lot of other universities, our competitors, can’t because they don’t have the ability that we do at Purdue. It puts us into a very rarified atmosphere and able to impact a lot of educational communities in a way that you can’t if you don’t have a strong university behind you.